A gold mine of masters photos online
I get these notes all the time. Here’s just the latest: “I am writing to inform you that I took many photographs at the Indoor Championships in Sweden. They are available for viewing at www.rikko2photo.co.uk and wondered whether you could put my website address on your federations website or in its publications. Kind Regards, Lesley Richardson”
Lesley, of course, refers to the recent European Veterans Indoor Athletic Championships in Eskilstua, Sweden.
The photos are kind of small, but she posted mass quantities of ’em. Her site is part of a thrilling trend in masters track — athletes and meet officials snapping scores of digital pictures for posting online.
My own photo Galleries are somewhat hidden — since I haven’t taken the time to catalog them properly. But you’ll see lotsa shots here.
One of my favorite non-Ken Stone Galleries covered the Eugene 2003 masters nationals. Another typical site is that of the Club West Masters meet in Santa Barbara, California. In Canada, the Kajaks team site features shots of members in action.
A slew of pictures — well-organized by event but intended for sale — were taken at the recent Nampa indoor nationals by photographers for Idaho Sports Pics.
The Eurovets Web site has its set of photo page links. In Canada, Doug Smith archives hundreds (or thousands) of masters action shots. (Except you have to jump through hoops to view them.) National Masters News has dipped its toe into the online photo waters.
Even the stodgy WMA site has a Gallery page. (Too many shots of gray-haired muckymucks in suits, however.)
Many years ago, when masters track shots were rare, I began listing links to these collections of geezer tracksters. Eventually, I stopped adding links. I was being inundated with them. Now I just alert people to their existence via the Yahoo Groups masterstf mailing list.
So far, however, nobody has taken the natural next step: masters videos online. But that’s gonna change this year.
Thanks to the Mac skills of my son Bobby, 16, I now can create little movies for online posting. I’ve already experimented with some clips I shot at the Eugene 2003 masters nationals. I shot the long hurdles and 200-meter finals on the closing Sunday of the meet, and I intend to post them eventually.
Better yet, I plan to take my camcorder to Hawaii for the USATF outdoor nationals this summer.
Stay tuned for something special.
